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Championing girls through hair care

“Every day, I think about how I can improve or contribute to the world and make life more exciting, enjoyable and fulfilling—not only for myself but for the women and girls around me.”
Since around the age of 4, Jamelia Donaldson has had a thing about hair. “I’d braid my own hair and my friends’ hair,” she explains. “In fact, you could say it was my first ‘business’; I’d get paid to do hair for my mum’s friends and their daughters after school.” It was an interest that never went away and over time Jamelia became particularly interested in finding the best natural techniques and products for styling curly hair like hers.

While studying for her Business and International Relations degree at Aston University, Jamelia spent time working in Beijing and New York before returning to London to take up a role in financial services. But on her travels, Jamelia had noticed something. There was a wealth of great curly and Afro hair products out there—they just weren’t easily available in the UK. “I was determined to tackle the issue,” say Jamelia. “I wanted to help girls discover and experiment with European and American curly hair care brands that they wouldn’t find in their local salon or high street beauty store.”

Hair care by post

The idea for a monthly hair care subscription box was born, with the intention of giving young curly-haired girls everything they needed to care for their hair and experiment with new products and styling techniques. But it wasn’t just about the hair, though. Jamelia wanted little girls to feel celebrated, represented and special. It worked and since the first boxes were shipped in November 2015, the Treasure Tress range has already expanded to include monthly subscription boxes for teens and women, too.

The early days brought some inevitable challenges—and opportunities to learn. “For example, I had a really clear idea of how I wanted the box to look and the size it would be,” says Jamelia. “But soon after launching we were approached by an amazing brand that wanted us to feature their products in our boxes. Obviously we jumped at the opportunity! But once the products arrived, we realised they were way too big for the boxes. With days to go before shipping we had to completely re-design the boxes to accommodate the products.”

Overnight growth

Another challenge was Treasure Tress’ unexpectedly quick growth in popularity overseas. Having anticipated selling only in the UK for the first few months, Jamelia woke up one day to orders from America and Europe. But there was a snag. “Because the website was set up to sell to the UK, they’d been charged UK postage—which doesn’t even come close to the price of international shipping.” Undeterred, Jamelia honoured the orders despite making a loss on them and made sure that the website and shipping processes were updated immediately to reflect her new, international audience.

Connecting to the world

So how did Jamelia achieve this sudden global reach, seemingly overnight? “I can only say I underestimated the power of connectivity, social media and hashtags!” she laughs. Instagram was Treasure Tress’ primary social media platform when it launched, and the brand has been right at home there ever since. Particularly popular are the unboxing videos that feature the Treasure Tress team revealing each new selection of subscription box goodies.

Jamelia calls Instagram “a fundamental part of our DNA” and says that she owes much of her business growth to the exposure and customer engagement that it has enabled. “I’m still astonished that I’ve been able to reach women in the Middle East, Europe and America so quickly,” she admits.

New energy

Reflecting on her first year of business, Jamelia has never felt more motivated. She was recently selected to take part in Future Girl Corp, a 12-hour business bootcamp organised by beauty industry pioneer Sharmadean Reid, where 100 up-and-coming female entrepreneurs came together to learn from, and inspire, each other. Still riding on the energy of the event experience, Jamelia is excited about what’s to come. “I’m a firm believer in finding your purpose, in adding something to the world. To me, that means creating and putting in place the products and services that women like me need—or will need in the future.”

To mark the International Women’s Day & European Year for Development, Wezesha will hold a seminar entitled “Women hold up half the sky”. Wezesha strategic plan 2015-2019 will be launched during this seminar.

International Women’s Day has been observed since in the early 1900’s, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women’s oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman’s Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

1910
n 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin’s suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women’s Day was the result.

1911
Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic ‘Triangle Fire’ in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events. 1911 also saw women’s ‘Bread and Roses‘ campaign.

1913-1914
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1913 following discussions, International Women’s Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Wommen’s Day ever since. In 1914 further women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the war and to express women’s solidarity.

1917
On the last Sunday of February, Russian women began a strike for “bread and peace” in response to the death over 2 million Russian soldiers in war. Opposed by political leaders the women continued to strike until four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. The date the women’s strike commenced was Sunday 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia. This day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was 8 March.

1918 – 1999
Since its birth in the socialist movement, International Women’s Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown from strength to strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women’s rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as ‘International Women’s Year‘ by the United Nations. Women’s organisations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually on 8 March by holding large-scale events that honour women’s advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women’s equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.

Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on 8 March search engine and media giant Google some years even changes its logo on its global search pages. Year on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The United States even designates the whole month of March as ‘Women’s History Month’.

So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women’s Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

The Africa Femmes Performantes international Women’s day Conference to take place in Yaoundé Cameroon from March 7-10, 2013, is dedicated to a major concern: FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE

It is our great pleasure to invite you to join us. This conference represents a unique and exceptional learning and networking platform. You will also have the opportunity of discovering or deepening your connections with Cameroon, its leadership and business men and women.

Following the 5th International Congress of women held in Casablanca Morocco in November 2012, the main outcome was to build a financial institution aiming to financially empower the women throughout the Continent of Africa in accordance with the recommendations of Africa Femmes Performantes, Inc.

The Yaoundé meeting will be an opportunity for women to build on the successfulpartnership made in 2012 between Africa Femmes Performantes, Inc. And theAfrican Development Credit (ADEC): a financial Institution initiated by women in Cameroon. ADEC is affiliated with the OHADA act (Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa).

The 2013 Africa Femmes Performantes financial conference will highlight the best practices in finance with sessions on:

Strategy and talent development, leveraging knowledge and best practices; build institutional capacity in microfinance. Empowering the Poor out of poverty, women projects practical analysis, How to structure their workforces, New ideas about how to maximize unity and corporate performance. Enhancing Profits by lending onindividual basis member or project whose borrowing base is a group of members.Experts will advise members in their projects before approval. Building and developing projects according to the OHADA act. Procedures.

IWD is a major day (March 6) of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. The first IWD was run in 1911 so in just a few years time 2011 sees the IWD Global Centenary.

Read the full history of IWD. As of 23 February there are 459 IWD events in 37 countries planned. Find one near you.

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Here are some of the global United Nation themes used for International Women’s Day to date: